


A Match Made in Heaven

by mithrel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Blanket Permission, M/M, Podfic Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-23
Updated: 2010-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-11 14:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/479328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mithrel/pseuds/mithrel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas asks Gabriel and Sam for advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Match Made in Heaven

“Gabriel.”

“Hmm?” Gabriel looked up from his cereal to see Castiel looking at him seriously. Well, Castiel always looked serious, but now he looked troubled as well.

“I need to speak with you.”

Gabriel glanced at Sam, who shrugged. “OK.”

Outside the room, Castiel seemed reluctant to say anything. “What’s up?” Gabriel prompted him.

“You and Sam are…” he trailed off.

“Yeah, we are. You have a problem with it?” He didn’t really care if Castiel did or not; he wasn’t breaking things off with Sam.

“No, just…how did it happen?”

“You remember when we went after that zombie?” That had not been fun. They’d managed to burn it without anyone getting seriously hurt, but Dean had almost been bitten.

Castiel nodded.

“Well let’s just say Sam was very happy to be alive at the end of it.”

This time Castiel blushed and Gabriel almost laughed. “But why do you care?”

“I…don’t. That is, it doesn’t matter to me that you and Sam…I mean…”

“Spit it out, bro,” Gabriel smirked. Castiel wasn’t usually so inarticulate.

He was silent a long moment, then mumbled, “Dean.”

 _Aha, so_ that’s _what this is about!_ “What about him?” Gabriel asked, playing dumb.

Castiel gave him a look that was part frustration, part embarrassment and part fury. “How can I…”

Gabriel took pity on him. “Dean won’t get anything subtle. You’ll have to come right out and say it. Or, since you seem to have trouble with that, just shove him up against a wall and kiss him.”

“But…but I haven’t…”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t take any great amount of skill to kiss somebody. And once he knows you’re interested, he’ll take over.”

“But…but he…”

Gabriel wondered if Castiel was ever going to be able to form a complete sentence again. “Oh, he’s interested. He stares at you all the time. And haven’t you seen what he’s thinking?”

“He’s asked me not to read his thoughts,” Castiel mumbled.

“I can see why. They’re pornographic. Trust me, bro, just go for it.”

Castiel nodded. 

***

“What was that about?” Sam asked Gabriel when he came back in.

“Angel business,” Gabriel said lightly. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Sam made a face at him but shrugged. He knew better than to try to force Gabriel to talk.

A couple of days later, though, Cas wanted to talk to him…privately.

“What’s up?” he asked, after making sure no one was around.

“It’s about Dean.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “What about Dean?” If he didn’t know better, he’d say Castiel was nervous.

“I asked Gabriel’s advice on the matter, but I don’t know if it is sound. And since he is your brother and you know him better than anyone else, I thought you might be able to help.”

“Help with what? And what was Gabriel’s advice?” He loved Gabriel, but even now he tended to do things more for his own amusement than anything, so any advice he gave was suspect. But why would Cas be talking to Gabriel about Dean? They hated each other, always had and always would. The only reason they didn’t kill each other was for Sam’s sake.

Castiel shifted. “I asked him the best way to approach Dean. He said he wouldn’t notice anything subtle.”

Sam coughed, suddenly understanding. “Uh, yeah, probably not. Dean doesn’t see signals where he’s not expecting them.” So. It looked like all the meaningful looks were finally going to turn into something else.

“He advised me to ‘shove him up against a wall and kiss him.’”

Sam choked at those words coming out of Castiel’s mouth. When he recovered, he considered. “Yeah, that’s actually probably the only thing that would work. But you’re gonna have to be prepared for him to freak out.”

“Why?”

Sam sighed. Why was it _his_ job to explain the intricacies of human relationships to an angel? “Dean’s interested in you, I know he is. But, the thing is, I don’t think _he_ knows it yet. He’s never been into guys before this–”

“I’m not.”

Sam derailed that conversation before it started. “Yeah, I know, but you’re in a male body, so as far as Dean’s concerned, you’re a guy. He’ll want to know what the fuck you’re thinking, and you’ll have to have a good explanation.”

Cas was silent a moment, then he nodded. “Thank you, Sam.”

“You’re welcome. And good luck. Just…try to keep it to yourselves, will you? I don’t care what you do, but I don’t wanna know about it.”

Cas nodded again, this time with a trace of a smile.

***

Dean came out of the motel room one morning to see Cas waiting for him. “Hey.”

“Hello, Dean.”

The way Cas was looking at him sent alarm bells shrilling in his brain, but he didn’t have time to think about it before Cas was crowding him into a wall, his body pressed close and his breath on Dean’s face and…

Dean flailed as Cas kissed him, kissed him back before he thought and then shoved him away. “What the fuck?”

Castiel looked at him squarely, but there was uncertainty in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Dean. I thought…”

“You thought what? Huh? What the _fuck_ could _possibly_ make you think it was acceptable to _assault_ me?!”

Cas flinched, his expression shutting down, and he vanished without another word.

As Dean stared at the spot where he’d been, he heard the sound of sarcastic applause.

He turned to see Gabriel leaning against the wall. “Great job there, skippy. Honestly, I don’t know what he sees in you.”

“Wha–” Dean sputtered. “What are you talking about?”

Gabriel snorted. “Seriously? He’s head over heels. But of course you wouldn’t pick up on anything subtle, like, oh I don’t know, _turning his back on Heaven and siding with you._ ”

“But…he–”

“He’s in love with you,” Gabriel interrupted. “And you couldn’t have done a more thorough job of rejecting him if you tried. Well done. God only knows where he is now.”

“But…he’ll come back, won’t he?” Dean asked frantically. Cas couldn’t leave…

Gabriel snorted again. “After this? Are you kidding me?”

Dean sagged. Gabriel was right. He’d never see Cas again. Unless… “Can you find him?” he asked, the words dragged from him. He didn’t want to ask Gabriel for anything, but…

“Why should I? Why do you want him back?”

 _Why do I…_ “We _need_ him! Lucifer’s still out there–”

Gabriel rolled his eyes and sighed. “Uh-huh. Sure, I’ll find him for you.”

He was gone before Dean could thank him, which was lucky, since he didn’t think he could bring himself to.

***

When Castiel left Dean, he didn’t know where he was going; all he was focused on was escape. When he materialized again he knew it was far from where he’d been. It had been cloudy in Missouri, threatening rain. Wherever he was now was sunny, with houses and lawns all around him.

Sam had said Dean would react badly, and he’d thought he’d prepared himself for that, come up with an explanation. But when Dean was standing there glaring at him all the words had flown out of his head. Gabriel had been wrong. Sam had been wrong. Dean would hate him.

He sank down to the curb and buried his head in his hands.

***

“So we checking out today?” Sam asked Dean, as he finished packing his duffel.

“No,” Dean said dully.

“What’s up?”

Dean looked at him, and even though Sam was good at reading his expressions he couldn’t begin to decipher this. Uncertainty and anguish and something that looked like self-loathing, and other things he couldn’t make out.

“Cas, he…and I…and then…”

“Uh-huh,” Sam said. So Cas had finally made a move. “So he kissed you?”

Dean’s eyes popped. “You _knew_ about this?”

“Knew about it? Hell, Dean, I _told_ him to do it!”

“You…what… _why?_ ”

Sam sighed and looked at the ceiling in an exaggerated plea for patience. “Dean. He’s besotted, you’re besotted, _one_ of you had to do something!”

“I am not _besotted,_ ” Dean protested indignantly.

“Oh, then what would you call it? Smitten? Swept off your feet? Twitterpated?”

Dean’s glare ramped up from ten to a hundred and fifty megawatts. “Jesus, Sammy, I don’t think of him like that!”

“Uh-huh,” Sam agreed skeptically.

“I don’t! I mean I like the guy, and he’s helped us and everything, but I don’t…”

Sam sighed. “Have it your way.”

***

Castiel was still sitting on the curb when he heard a soft “Hey.”

He looked up. The sun was setting and Gabriel was standing over him. “Go away, Gabriel.”

Instead of leaving, Gabriel sat on the curb next to him. “You should come back.”

Castiel laughed bitterly. “Why? So Dean can yell at me again?”

“Dean’s an idiot,” Gabriel said immediately.

Castiel shot a glance at him, half ready to protest despite everything.

“He’s an idiot,” Gabriel continued. “But he cares about you.”

“He said that?” Castiel asked hopefully.

“Not in so many words, but you know how he is.”

Castiel shook his head, his hopes withering again. “No. I’m not going back.”

“So, what, you’re just going to sit on this curb until the world ends? There’s still Lucifer to stop.”

Castiel sighed, but nodded reluctantly. The Apocalypse was still going on, and even though his Grace was diminishing he wasn’t useless yet. He had to help. “All right. I’ll come back. But only to fight.”

Gabriel clapped him on the shoulder. “Attaboy!”

***

When Cas appeared in the motel room Dean stood up. He’d been trying to think of what to say if Gabriel managed to find Cas again, but hadn’t come up with anything. “Cas, about…about what happened…”

“I am sorry, Dean. I was acting on incorrect information.”

Dean floundered. “That’s…OK, but…”

Cas cut him off. “Please, I would prefer not to speak of it again.”

Dean swallowed, but nodded. “OK.”

***

And he didn’t talk about it. Gabriel had gone back to avoiding him, Sam appeared to be letting things alone for once, and Cas…

Well, he was still helping them, but he didn’t say much unless they were discussing a job, he seldom if ever came near Dean anymore, and when Dean forgot himself and clapped him on the shoulder after a successful hunt, Cas flinched as if he’d been struck.

So things were awkward as hell between them, even more awkward than when he’d first shown up and Dean hadn’t trusted him. But he didn’t bring it up again.

He _thought_ about it, though. In fact, he obsessed about it. What it had felt like to have Cas kissing him, to kiss him back, what might have happened if he hadn’t shoved him away… It was driving him crazy.

So one day he decided, screw his own tendency to repress things, screw what Cas wanted, they were talking about this.

Sam and Gabriel were…well, Dean honestly wasn’t sure where they were. Gabriel had decided to abduct Sam, and God only knew when they’d be back. So it was the best opportunity he was likely to get.

“Hey, Cas?”

Cas looked up from the book he’d buried himself in when Sam and Gabriel left. He’d never gotten the hang of internet research. “Yes?”

“We need to talk.”

Cas’ face hardened. “I told you, Dean, I do not wish to speak of–”

“Tough shit,” Dean cut him off, and Cas’ eyes widened fractionally. “We’re talking about this.”

“I told you, I was mistaken,” Cas said flatly.

“Mistaken about what?”

Cas didn’t answer. Dean got up and went over to the table, looming over him. “Mistaken about what, Cas?”

“I believed that you…” he stopped.

OK, talking wasn’t getting them anywhere. New plan. He hauled Cas up by his elbows and kissed him.

Cas tried to pull back, but Dean wouldn’t let him, winding his fingers in his tie, and Cas finally relaxed against him and his hand came up to rest at Dean’s neck.

When they pulled apart, Dean rested his forehead against Cas’. “I…do. I just hadn’t realized it before.”

Cas pulled back to look at him for a long moment, his eyes going unfocused, then nodded and leaned in to kiss him.


End file.
